Lingering
by Golden Lunar Eclipse
Summary: Danny’s spirit is unsatisfied as he fights his own kind for eternity, to protect a world where he no longer belongs.


Lingering

The ghost was restless. Lately, it seems, that's all he felt. Restlessness and a yearning for something desperately needed, something that was missing, something beyond his reach. It had been many years since he died, yet here he was, still on Earth, only half of him left… or less than that…

He ventured out from the house's basement, which had long been unoccupied. It was his home, and it still provided him, for the time being, with what he needed to return those like himself back to the Ghost Zone. Tonight was cold for mid-autumn, but it made no difference to him – he was numb to temperature. Floating along a familiar path to the town's high school, he came across just the thing he was looking for. A ghost was attacking a human. Coming from a history of being half-ghost, half-human, he had made it his duty to protect other humans with his power. Dying did not deter him from his promise and he continued to serve this purpose. Whenever he found ghosts out of the Ghost Zone, he'd slip right into action and return them to where they belonged. This not only helped him to feel like he was achieving his reason for being, but it also let him escape the frustration building slowly within him, the restlessness of not knowing where he wanted to be, where he was supposed to be… the place that had eluded him…

Danny shot an ectoblast at the ghost that threatened the young girl. That got the other paranormal being's attention and it charged at Danny. The girl was now safe. Danny's battle with the ghost took him away from the school and towards the local fast food restaurant, Nasty Burger Reincarnate. The struggle gave him a rush and a surge of excitement flooded through him. He had a job to do, and soon he had captured the ghost, dragged it back with him, and tossed it into the Ghost Zone. It was over and Danny hovered around the room. Slowly the feelings of _life_ seeped away, and were replaced once again by a melancholic restlessness. He may not be as strong as he was as a halfa, but he felt strong enough that the day would never come when these tormented feelings would overwhelm him.

Not far away from where he resided, the girl was entering a home. Her family was staying with friends of theirs. The girl could barely contain herself to tell them about what had just occurred. She entered the living room where everyone was gathered.

"Mom! Dad! Everybody! Guess what just happened to me!"

"What, Sweetheart?" asked her father with some humour.

"You didn't get lost, did you, Amber?" asked her mother with concern.

"No! I just saw a ghost!" she gesticulated with flourish. "Actually, there were two of them! One of them saved me from the other one! It's just like all of Grandma Sam's stories! I didn't believe that they were real, but ghosts actually _do_ exist!"

"What? You thought I was just making all that stuff up?" the old woman smiled. "You didn't believe me when I said that I went to high school with a ghost boy?"

Her grand-daughter didn't look abashed in the least. "Of course not. You went to _Casper_ High, it seemed the perfect story!"

"This one doesn't take to fairy tales easy, does she?" Sam asked the other adults. "Ah, I knew that some of me had to rub off somewhere!"

"We get ghosts around here all the time. I guess you haven't ever stayed in Amity Park long enough to see them," spoke the man of the house, Tucker Jr. "I'm willing to bet that the ghost who saved you was the same one who hung out with my dad and your grandmother."

"_Danny Phantom?_"

"White hair, green eyes, cool emblem on his chest?" asked Sam. Her grand-daughter nodded. "Yep, that was him."

"He's sort of the hero around town, though, most people are afraid of him too," Tucker Jr. said.

"Ah, none of them ever knew the real Danny," Sam mentioned with a bit of annoyance. "They never saw the Danny that dedicated his life to saving people who don't even care about him or who even went out of their way to cause trouble for him."

"I feel a story coming on…"

"Lillith, since when have I been known to ramble?" Sam addressed her daughter.

"Oh, you've never been known to ramble, Mom, but you have been known to go to lengths for a good cause to set things straight. This _Danny_ story may be one of them."

Sam just grinned.

"So, tell us about this ghost boy."

"Ok. Let's see, where to begin… Danny and I met a very, very long time ago, probably around your age, Amber. We were the best of friends. And of course there was your father, Junior," she addressed Tucker Jr. "Danny, Tucker, and I went to Casper High together. In the first month of freshman year, Danny's parents were showing us the Fenton Portal – a doorway to another realm known as the Ghost Zone. They tried to test it out, but it didn't work. I encouraged Danny to take a look inside when they had left, and that's when the accident happened. Danny became half ghost. He could change at will and he got all these powers – the power to turn invisible, the power to phase through solid objects, the power to overshadow people, the power to shoot ectoblasts at enemies, the ability to fly… It took him a little while before he knew how to control them. He decided to keep his ghost half a secret from everyone but us, and to use his new abilities to protect us and everyone around him from the ghosts that were coming through the portal. He became quite good at catching all the ghosts and returning them to the Ghost Zone. On top of it all, he started a balancing act between schoolwork and ghost catching.

"The ghosts began to call him the 'Halfa'. Having both human strengths and ghost strengths gave him a bit of an advantage over the others – yes human strengths, as Tucker and I discovered, we phase through walls in the Ghost Zone like they phase through walls here, and whenever we had a ghost shield up, Danny could pass through it as a human. He wasn't the only halfa, though, as we had originally thought. His arch nemesis, Vlad Masters known as Plasmius, had been a friend of his parents in college, and had suffered from a similar accident to Danny's, which resulted in his becoming a halfa as well. But worse for him was that he lost the love of his life, Danny's mother, to Danny's father. He spent the twenty years before meeting Danny improving his techniques, becoming more powerful, and becoming rich. When he met Danny, he wanted to take him on as a protégé. Of course Danny refused, especially since Plasmius wanted to kill his father, win his mother, and get Danny to use his powers for evil.

"Danny was able to keep up a decent average in his studies, despite his nightly encounters with the paranormal. And he saved the world several times over – once even from his future self. He was brave, and he was selfless. He was funny, and he was compassionate. He was the first boy I ever truly loved, and I'm not sure if he ever found out… Of course, I loved your grandfather, Amber, you don't have to give me that look, Danny was before I met him…

"Yes, the day it happened it came as quite a shock to me, to Tucker, to Danny's family, and to everyone else who knew him. Danny died too young. It was the end of junior year. Plasmius had finally gathered all these ghost things that would give him 'ultimate power'. Danny went off once again to fight for our world, and he never came back. I watched in the Spectre Speeder with Tucker, a ghost shield protecting us as Danny attempted to take his enemy down. Plasmius had been warped by the power, it corrupted him, it was too much for him, and he was out of control. Danny was getting weaker by the second, we could see it. And then he did something so amazing and so devastating at the same time, I still have trouble thinking about it. He used his remaining energy to give up his own life and take Plasmius away with him. Danny died, and Plasmius was wrecked by the explosion. I saw him detransform in fainting, open his eyes after a few moments, roll over and look at Danny, one of the most depressing looks I've ever seen written on his face – I don't know if it's because Danny defeated him or because Danny died and he was feeling guilty. He just lay there, losing consciousness again slowly, staring at Danny… and then he died too.

"Plasmius died with Vlad Masters. Ghosts are beings that are trapped here. They are imprints of an unfulfilled intense emotional part of a person's life. They are lingering lost souls, incomplete, unsatisfied. Danny Phantom is, in a way, a memory of Danny. He was left behind because Danny didn't feel he did all that he could when he died, and he wanted to stay to finish his job. It's so sad. He doesn't realize that there will always be ghosts on Earth.

"When I saw him again, not long after his death, I really freaked out. But then, Tucker and I hung out with him for a while. It wasn't the same as it used to be. There was a huge part of Danny missing, and to be honest, it felt weird to be hanging out with him when we were trying to get over his death. Our last year of high school, I ended up making all these excuses about getting good marks and getting accepted into college, distancing myself from him. Tucker did the same. I think Danny figured it out, and eventually, he stopped coming. But he never stopped ghost fighting, we could still see him from time to time out there, still trying to save the world from beings like himself. And the town began to know him for this, somewhat adopting him after a couple of years.

"Danny's parents were so distressed when they learned of Danny's death, and further astonished to hear how it happened. They went into denial first, but Jazz, his sister, ever so smart in dealing with people, brought them around eventually. I think Danny's dad went to talk to Phantom at one point. In any case, he and Mrs. Fenton gave up ghost hunting for good and they moved away, leaving it all behind. Jazz was already going to a college out of town, and when her parents moved, she didn't come back, except for once every year to lay flowers on Danny's grave.

"I'm not sure how the ghost Danny took all this. There really wasn't much to do for it though – we all had our lives to live and we had to move on. I did as Jazz did and left Amity Park for college. When I finished my degree, I stayed in the city. Tucker was the only one left here, but he did alright, didn't he Junior? And I think that most things with us have gone smoothly as well, haven't they Lillith? And Danny…? Danny is still out there, somewhere, keeping us all safe and sound. I think it might be some time yet before he moves on for good, if he ever moves on, if he can move on… he might be fighting for his cause for eternity. I don't know.

"That is the story of Danny. May he finally rest in peace as he so deserves…"

-(-)-

Lingering

Lost in the gray

Meaning fell to fear

No heart beats to sway

Why are you lingering here?

-

To save the ones you loved dead long ago?

To keep fighting even though you're gone?

To inspire hope in people you don't even know?

Never to sleep, never to be done?

-

Your conflict in life marked an imprint on your soul

That was trapped when you left it behind

A conflict that remained your only goal

To rid the Earth of all those of your kind

-

There is a realm that you were meant to see

Were you not frozen between life and death

You're no longer who you used to be

Exist in denial as if you had breath

-

In shadow form you appear

Haunting from dusk to dawn

Why are you still lingering here?

Never to sleep, never to move on…

-(-)-

AN – that's it! (mini-disclaimer, I don't own DP). I view the story in three parts: Danny as a ghost, Grandma Sam tells his story, and the Lingering poem. I hadn't planned on writing it this way, it just sort of came out, especially the poem, which surprised me but I had the most fun writing it. It's not exactly directly related to the story, more just to the ideas, the essence of the story. Also, I was going to mention that Amber had gone to the corner store for a chocolate bar, but it didn't really fit in. Anyways, if there are some of you who feel it is incomplete, that I left some plot holes or cliffhangers or whatever, yes, I did. Purposely. It mirrors the unfinished restless feeling that Danny has and it doesn't end his story, because his story isn't done yet (he still exists). I hope you liked it. Feedback is much appreciated. Take care!


End file.
